Good guys versus bad guys - who's ahead?

Tuesday, 9 December 2003, 3:39 PM EST

"More than 100 new viruses are identified every week--and 60 new software (problems) every week," he said in a recent keynote speech. "We saw a 19 percent increase in attack activity in the first half" of 2003.

Spam, of course, is also on the rise, along with arguably ill-advised attempts to curb it.

On top of that, Microsoft, Computer Associates International and other software companies are beginning to encroach on the security market. Still, it's not Thompson's style to come across as perturbed. Awareness about security problems is growing, and so is Symantec.

Since Thompson's arrival from IBM in 1999, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company has more than doubled its revenue in the teeth of an industrywide downturn. Symantec has also completed a series of acquisitions to move deeper into the market for generalized management tools.

Spotlight

Microsoft Edge, the new browser in Windows 10, represents a significant increase in the security over Internet Explorer. However, there are also new potential threat vectors that arenít present in older versions.

35 percent of employees would sell information on company patents, financial records and customer credit card details if the price was right. This illustrates the growing importance for organizations to deploy data loss prevention strategies.

Sun Tzu's writings have been studied throughout the ages by professional militaries and can used to not only answer the question of whether or not we are in a cyberwar, but how one can fight a cyber-battle.

Infosec consultant Paul Moore came up with a working solution to thwart a type of behavioral profiling. The result is a Chrome extension called Keyboard Privacy, which prevents profiling of users by the way they type by randomizing the rate at which characters reach the DOM.